# The Novelist's Film (소설가의 영화)
**The Novelist's Film** (소설가의 영화) is a 2022 South Korean black-and-white drama directed by [Hong Sang-soo](https://www.edgepedia.org/hong-sang-soo), his 27th feature, in which a novelist who has stopped writing meets an actress and decides to make a film with her. It won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 72nd [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival), Hong's third consecutive year of winning an award in Berlin.[1](https://www.fnnews.com/news/202202170702030826) • [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB_r2l_Cr2Y)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Hong Sang-soo, who also wrote the screenplay, shot, edited, and composed the music[3](https://sports.donga.com/ent/article/all/20220412/112834339/1) |
| Award | Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, February 16, 2022[1](https://www.fnnews.com/news/202202170702030826) |
| Runtime and format | 92 minutes, black and white with a color sequence near the end[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film) • [5](https://v.daum.net/v/20220427052909110) |
| Principal cast | Lee Hye-young (Junhee), Kim Min-hee (Kilsoo), Seo Young-hwa (Sewon), Kwon Hae-hyo (Hyojin), Cho Yun-hee, Ki Joo-bong (Mansoo), Park Mi-so[6](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-novelists-film) |
| Production | Shot over two weeks in March 2021; Kim Min-hee served as production manager as well as lead actress[3](https://sports.donga.com/ent/article/all/20220412/112834339/1) |
| Release | South Korea April 2022; United States October 28, 2022, released by The Cinema Guild[7](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-novelists-film/) |
| Critical reception | 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 29 reviews[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Junhee (Lee Hye-young) is a well-known novelist who has fallen into a slump and no longer writes. She travels to the outskirts of Seoul to visit Sewon (Seo Young-hwa), a younger colleague who runs a small bookshop and had been out of contact with her.[8](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=99970) • [9](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220413005100315) At the bookshop she learns sign language from an employee (Park Mi-so), then visits a nearby observation tower, where she runs into the film director Hyojin (Kwon Hae-hyo) and his wife (Cho Yun-hee); a film adaptation of one of her novels that Hyojin was to direct had fallen through, leaving the relationship strained.[8](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=99970) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film)
On a walk in the park below the tower, the group meets the actress Kilsoo (Kim Min-hee), who has been inactive in her work. Junhee tells Kilsoo she wants to make a film with her, and Kilsoo joins her at a drinking party at Sewon's bookshop, where the poet Mansoo (Ki Joo-bong) also appears.[10](https://www.imaeil.com/pdf/2022/04/22/all.pdf) • [9](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220413005100315) The film follows these chance encounters and conversations, much of it over food and [makgeolli](https://www.edgepedia.org/makgeolli), the fizzy rice wine that loosens the characters' tongues.[11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/novelists-film-hong-sangsoo-celebrates-casual-sensual-spontaneous-pleasures-life)
**The ending.** The film closes with a passage presumed to be the short film Junhee has made, starring Kilsoo. In it, the black-and-white image suddenly switches to color: Kilsoo picks flowers with a middle-aged woman, carries the bouquet-like bundle while humming Wagner's "Wedding March," and the image returns to black and white as Kilsoo, having watched the finished film alone in a small theater, walks out.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20220427052909110)
## Production
Hong Sang-soo shot the film over two weeks in March 2021, working in his established small-crew manner: he is credited with the screenplay, direction, cinematography, editing, and music, and Kim Min-hee, his partner and longtime collaborator, is credited as production manager in addition to playing Kilsoo.[3](https://sports.donga.com/ent/article/all/20220412/112834339/1) Kim had been appearing in Hong's films since *[Right Now, Wrong Then](https://www.edgepedia.org/right-now-wrong-then)* (2015) and had taken the production manager credit beginning with *Introduction* (2021).[12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJDHX5Mtltw) The cast draws on his regular ensemble: Seo Young-hwa and Ki Joo-bong are among the actors who have worked with him most often, and Kwon Hae-hyo, Cho Yun-hee, and Park Mi-so carried over from recent films.[13](https://www.cineplay.co.kr/ko-kr/articles/10850) • [14](https://www.newspim.com/news/view/20221104000810)
The film was produced by Jeonwonsa Film, the company through which Hong's recent features have been made.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film)
## Berlin and reception
At the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, the jury awarded the Grand Jury Prize (Silver Bear) to *The Novelist's Film* on February 16, 2022; the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear) that year went to Carla Simón's *Alcarràs* and the best-director Silver Bear to [Claire Denis](https://www.edgepedia.org/claire-denis) for *Both Sides of the Blade*.[1](https://www.fnnews.com/news/202202170702030826) The prize was Hong's third consecutive award at Berlin, following the Silver Bear for Best Director for *The Woman Who Ran* (2020) and the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for *[Introduction](https://www.edgepedia.org/introduction-2021-film)* (2021).[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB_r2l_Cr2Y) • [15](https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=commercial_movie&no=612009)
The film opened in South Korea in April 2022 and in the United States on October 28, 2022 at Film at [Lincoln Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/lincoln-center) as part of the 60th [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival)'s Main Slate, distributed by The Cinema Guild.[7](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-novelists-film/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 100% Tomatometer from 29 reviews, with the critics' consensus describing Hong as distilling "beauty and wisdom from the mundane."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film) Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times called it "tense, absorbing and finally enchanting," and the New York Times review described it as "a Chekhovian study in small moments and chance encounters."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film)
## Place in Hong's work
The film continues the loose, conversational mode of Hong's recent features centered on women, following *On the Beach at Night Alone* (2017), *The Woman Who Ran* (2020), and *[In Front of Your Face](https://www.edgepedia.org/in-front-of-your-face)* (2021), and it reteams him with Lee Hye-young, the star of *In Front of Your Face*, in her second Hong film.[9](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220413005100315) • [16](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-novelists-film-reviewed-a-drama-of-artistic-crisis-from-a-wildly-prolific-director) Critics have read it as one of his most direct statements about filmmaking itself: the critic Lee Ji-hyun noted the film's scenes of characters learning things, from sign language to how a film gets made, and one Korean critics' poll ranked it third among the Korean films of 2022.[8](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=99970) • [17](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=101692) The sudden color sequence at the end, in which the filmmaker-figure offers a bouquet to his actress, has been noted as a recurring image in Hong's later work, appearing again in *[In Water](https://www.edgepedia.org/in-water)* (2023).[18](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2024/06/26/dans-in-water-hong-sang-soo-filme-une-equipe-de-cinema-errante-plongee-dans-le-flou_6243856_3246.html)
## References
1. [홍상수 감독, '소설가의 영화'로 베를린영화제 심사위원 대상 수상, 파이낸셜뉴스 (2022)](https://www.fnnews.com/news/202202170702030826)
2. [연인 김민희와 무대에…홍상수 베를린영화제 심사위원대상, 연합뉴스 (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB_r2l_Cr2Y)
3. [홍상수·김민희 '소설가의 영화', 촬영장에서도 화기애애, 스포츠동아 (2022)](https://sports.donga.com/ent/article/all/20220412/112834339/1)
4. [The Novelist's Film, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_novelists_film)
5. [소설가의 영화와 홍상수의 실화 사이, 뉴시스 (2022)](https://v.daum.net/v/20220427052909110)
6. [The Novelist's Film streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-novelists-film)
7. [The Novelist's Film, Film at Lincoln Center / NYFF60](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-novelists-film/)
8. [특수효과 없이 마법을 보여주는 홍상수의 렌즈들 '소설가의 영화', 씨네21 (2022)](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=99970)
9. [Hong Sang-soo's monologue on storytelling, filmmaking: 'The Novelist's Film', Yonhap News Agency (2022)](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220413005100315)
10. [‘아보~’ 소리도, 맨손](https://www.imaeil.com/pdf/2022/04/22/all.pdf)
11. [The Novelist's Film: Hong Sangsoo celebrates the casual, sensual and spontaneous pleasures of life, Sight and Sound (2022)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/novelists-film-hong-sangsoo-celebrates-casual-sensual-spontaneous-pleasures-life)
12. [홍상수 '소설가의 영화' 은곰상 심사위원대상 수상 영상, YouTube (2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJDHX5Mtltw)
13. [소설가의 영화 속 홍상수 단골배우 면면, 씨네플레이 (2022)](https://www.cineplay.co.kr/ko-kr/articles/10850)
14. [홍상수 영화에서 사라진 김민희, 신작 '탑' 제작실장으로 참여, 뉴스핌 (2022)](https://www.newspim.com/news/view/20221104000810)
15. [한국 영화 역대 3대 영화제 수상 경력, DC인사이드 (2023)](https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=commercial_movie&no=612009)
16. [The Novelist's Film, Reviewed: A Drama of Artistic Crisis, The New Yorker (2022)](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-novelists-film-reviewed-a-drama-of-artistic-crisis-from-a-wildly-prolific-director)
17. [2022년 한국영화 BEST 3위, '소설가의 영화', 씨네21 (2023)](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=101692)
18. [Dans « In Water », Hong Sang-soo filme une équipe de cinéma errante, Le Monde (2024)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2024/06/26/dans-in-water-hong-sang-soo-filme-une-equipe-de-cinema-errante-plongee-dans-le-flou_6243856_3246.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2021 to 2022*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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